Index funds, exchange-traded funds (ETF)

Securities funds that invest in securities of a recognized securities index and are subject to the relatively strict requirements for investment funds in Germany. Thereby – the index-oriented fund is actively managed. The fund management tries to outperform the index and to achieve a so-called outperformance – i.e. a fund development better than the index development. – The index-tracking fund is passively managed. The fund management tries to track the index as closely as possible, so that the performance of the fund share follows the index performance exactly, also unseemly called “fully replicating ETF” in stock market jargon. – In Germany, both types are subject to control by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority. – At the beginning of 2011, around 540 index funds were offered in Germany. The most widely traded fund of this type on the German stock exchange is index-replicating (index-tracking) based on the Dax. – At the beginning of 2011, all index funds in Europe accounted for just under two percent of the total fund volume; in the USA, this percentage was hardly higher. The low share is explained by the fact that – banks hardly offer index funds in particular because the commissions on the sale of other financial products are higher. But – also on the part of the demanders often ambiguities prevail in relation to the structure of the fortune of such a fund. Because up to now for instance an index-following ETF does not have to take necessarily also gegenständlich the shares into its Portfolio. The capital stock of the ETF can consist of any securities or precious metals, as long as only the value of the assets follows the underlying index; this is also referred to as a synthetic ETF. – Also unclear is the practice of some index-tracking ETFs to swap securities with banks when the index fluctuates. – See bond, index-linked, bogey, precious metals fund, issue, indexed, exchange-traded commodities, financialization, index-tracking, inflation bonds, commodity fund, swap, inflation-indexed. – Cf.
BaFin’s 2004 Annual Report, p. 177 (threshold for an index fund) and the respective BaFin Annual Report, Financial Stability Report 2012, p. 71 f. (ETFs grow), Deutsche Bundesbank Monthly Report of January 2013, p. 19 (many ETFs are launched abroad [Luxembourg]):

Attention: The financial encyclopedia is protected by copyright and may only be used for private purposes without express consent!
University Professor Dr. Gerhard Merk, Dipl.rer.pol., Dipl.rer.oec.
Professor Dr. Eckehard Krah, Dipl.rer.pol.
E-mail address: info@ekrah.com
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Ernst_Merk
https://www.jung-stilling-gesellschaft.de/merk/
https://www.gerhardmerk.de/